New Delhi: India’s decision to bat first in the first T20I against England surprised many. With clouds and rain around, most teams would have preferred to play the ball first after winning the toss at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street on Wednesday.However, the Indian captain Shreyas Iyer chose to bat, and former Indian wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik he believes there was one major reason behind this decision – the recent 2-0 T20I defeat against Ireland.
‘Ireland was there’
India chose to play all T20Is against Ireland but failed to follow through on their target. They lost the first match by 34 runs and the second by only one run.Karthik feels that the defeat affected India’s mentality against England.“India, in choosing to bat, was a good choice, although, obviously, there was a bit of weather around the corner all the time… The main trend is to chase the numbers,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.“It was a very difficult night here because the rain was always coming around the corner, but I think Ireland had a little bit of it. So, India thought, ‘let’s not rush and bat first,'” he added.
The game will stop when it rains
India’s plan looked good as they posted 189/7 in 20 overs before a thunderstorm ended the match early.The rains started in the southern part of India and only intensified. With more than 40 minutes left in the final time of the five-over game, the umpires stopped the game.Shreyas Iyer led the way with a 47-ball 68, while the openers Abhishek Sharma He has scored 59. Bowler Shivam Dube delivered a late victory with an unbeaten 42 off just 21 balls.The second match of the five-match T20I will be played in Manchester on July 4.
Iyer has crossed 5,000 international flights
The match also turned into a personal highlight for Shreyas Iyer, who completed 5,000 runs for India with his knock of 68. He capped off an innings that included four fours and a six in a run of 144.So far, Iyer has scored 5,031 runs in 147 international matches at an average of 39.61 and a strike rate of 96.06. His results include six centuries and 37 half-centuries, with a top score of 128 not out.In Tests, he has scored 811 runs in 14 matches at an average of 36.86, including one hundred and fifty.ODIs remain his most successful form, with 3,035 runs in 79 matches at an average of 45.98, including five centuries and eighty.In T20Is, Iyer has scored 1,184 runs in 54 matches at an average of 30.38 with over 135 strikes, with nine fifties and a top score of 74 not out.